The Centro Cultural Aztlán’s upcoming photographic exhibition, which opens on Thursday evening, September 3, 2026, in conjunction with San Antonio’s FotoSeptiembre, offers a powerful celebration of Mexican American life as lived, remembered, and continually reimagined. Curated by historian and documentary photographer Ricardo Romo, this year’s FotoSeptiembre at the Centro features the works of thirteen photographers, all but one, Oscar Castillo, are from San Antonio.
Al Rendón, Uvalde series. Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Castillo, a Los Angeles-based artist, first worked with Romo in 1971 when he undertook an assignment to photograph the Tarahumara Indigenous tribes in the Sierra Madre and desert of Chihuahua, Mexico. Two of Castillo’s photos from that Chihuahua experience are in this show. Al Rendo and Kathy Vargas, two San Antonio Latino photographers in this exhibit, both have photographs in the Smithsonian Art Museum photography collection.
Rooted in everyday experience, the FotoSeptiembre works illuminate the intimate textures of Tejano and Chicano communities — moments often overlooked, yet deeply embedded in the cultural imagination across generations. Trisha Ziff, the author of Between Worlds: Contemporary Mexican Photography, noted that “photographers have the opportunity to reflect, to examine their own culture, and to find considered visual explanations in a society and culture which nurtures this way of working.”
The photographs in the Centro exhibit by thirteen Latino artists function as more than visual documents; they are acts of preservation, affirmation, and storytelling. Collectively, they form an alternative chronicle of Mexican American life and culture. Monica Saldana’s photos of familial and cultural practices are illuminating. She is a San Antonio-based artist and self-taught image-maker. Saldana developed her visual practice after six years working as a professional makeup artist in film, television, and print, where she learned by observing photographers and filmmakers on set. Her photographs are distinguished by a soft, romantic sensibility and an interest in the quiet magic of lived experience.
Monica and Carlos Saldana at Ricardo and Harriett’s home delivering “La Mera Mera” photo. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Through images of Quinceañeras, birthdays, religious observances, and quiet scenes of domesticity, the exhibition captures both the extraordinary and the everyday, revealing how cultural values such as family, resilience, cooperation, and continuity are actively lived and sustained.
Al Rendón. Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Moreover, as visual historians and cultural workers, these artists construct narratives that challenge the historical absence of Latinos in mainstream representation while expanding the scope of American art. San Antonio emerges as a central presence throughout the exhibition—a wellspring of memory and identity. Musicologist and Tejano music photographer Ramon Hernandez, the author of a book on “Lil Joe,” takes us close to the music stage and behind the scenes of well-known Latino music performers including Sunny Ozuna [Sunny and the Sunliners] and Patsy Torres.
Ramon Hernandez, “Patsy Torres.” Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Enrique Navarette has spent much of his adult life documenting the life and culture of South Texas lowriders. His work, like that of Monica Saldana, Victoria Martinez, and Gloria Cruz, transforms fleeting moments into enduring records, creating a visual archive that complements written histories and ensures the lived experience is neither forgotten nor marginalized.
Enrique Navarette. Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Viewed through a South Texas lens, the images ground broader cultural themes in specific places, faces, and traditions, reflecting how the community sees itself and wishes to be seen. At the same time, the works foster empathy and cultural understanding, inviting viewers into a dialogue between past and present. The works of Ruben Chavez and David Ortega examine the cultural transformation and resilience of the Chicano Cholo community in San Antonio.
David Ortega, “Mi Vida Loca.” Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Especially for those unfamiliar with these cultural worlds, the exhibition opens a space for recognition and learning. Ultimately, this exhibition underscores photography’s vital role in shaping cultural memory. These images do not simply record; they speak. One of my favorite documentary photographers, Walker Evans, devoted his sustained attention to everyday America. He photographed roadside stands, advertisements, cafés, rooms, storefronts, domestic architecture, small-town streets, and working people. The Metropolitan Museum of Art calls the vernacular his “principal subject” and describes his effort to distill American life from “the simple and the ordinary.”
The artists in FotoSeptiembre carry forward stories of identity, place, and belonging, contributing to a broader, community-rooted, culturally affirming arts movement. In doing so, they help ensure that Mexican American life is seen, valued, and understood within the evolving narrative of American art. Joel Salcido, well-known for his work with Texas Monthly and his photography book featuring the making of Tequila, offers pristine views of the Mexican American borderlands surrounding El Paso.
This year, the Centro is honoring photographer Al Rendón with the Aguila Azteca Award. Rendón is a San Antonio-born photographer recognized for his extraordinary contributions to documenting the cultural life of South Texas. Rendón is known as a fine-art photographer, with a distinctive archive of photos of musicians, lowriders, charreadas, street life, food vendors, artists, civic events, architecture, and everyday San Antonians. He documented the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas in 2022.
Al Rendón, Uvalde series. Courtesy of the Centro Cultural Aztlán.
Rendón began photographing his hometown of San Antonio in the early 1970s, starting as a teen with a Kodak Instamatic that belonged to his mother. At Central Catholic High School, he accepted a class assignment to photograph rock bands. His early professional work included backstage photographs of major rock acts that included Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Rod Stewart. He quickly transitioned to photos that represented San Antonio’s Mexican culture and worked with the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Centers alongside Sandra Cisneros and Juan Tejeda.
Rendón told local writer Nicolas Frank that photography “is not about getting the most perfect picture … it’s more about having a vision and following through with it.” His work with Conjunto and Tejano musicians led him to work with the famed Tejano music star Selena. He recalled recently that his photos of Selena were used as cover art for her 1992 CD ‘Entre a Mi Mundo’ and as covers for several magazines, including ‘Newsweek‘ and ‘People.’ Rendón’s photographs also hang as portraits in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.
In 2010, I invited Rendón and Joel Salcido to join me for a Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique [FIAP] photo exhibition in Lishui, a city in Zhejiang Province, China. Lishui prides itself on being one of China’s major photography institutions as well as a major photography exhibition venue. Both Rendón and Salcido have works in the current Centro exhibit.
Rendón told Nicolas Frank of the San Antonio Report that the essence of his approach to photography was “lending localized, family-close context to events, acting as an agent of cultural memory, and capturing moments lost to time.” Rendón has cited Tina Modotti, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and Henri Cartier-Bresson among his important photographic influences.
The opening reception for FotoSeptiembre at the Centro Cultural Aztlán is on Thursday, September 3, 2026, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Join us for light refreshments and entertainment. This exhibition is free and open to the public and will be on view through September 30, 2026.
For more information, please call Centro Cultural Aztlan M-Th. 10 am to 4 pm at 210-432-1896 or come by Centro Cultural Aztlan’s office located in the Deco Building at 1800 Fredericksburg Road, Suite 103. San Antonio, TX 78201.www.centroaztlan.org
